Yan completed the returning cycle. The Dao of Returning Spring settled through his body, foundation, soul, and lifespan. The breakthrough was clean and permanent. His strength surged, and his cultivation became more integrated. His long life expanded without a hidden payer or delayed cost. His external wounds remained open beneath the torn bandages.
For one breath, the hall’s noise fell away. Yan felt his circulation in full: the returning current no longer branched into separate methods. The gains he had earned through each art belonged to one coherent path. The Dao did not erase what each art had been; it gave them a shared direction. He had reached Dao Sovereign.
Pain remained. His side burned under the robe, his forearm bled through its bandage, and his shoulder pulled when he moved. The breakthrough had made him stronger, not untouched. Wuchen wrenched against the hold, reaching for the broken brush.
Yan struck the brush away from his hand and snapped the shaft under his heel. Then he pinned Wuchen’s arm against the ledger without crushing the joint. The door guard entered with a second guard and a restraint chain. They waited until Yan had Wuchen still.
“Alive,” Yan said.
The guards brought steel cuffs. Yan kept Wuchen’s arm on the desk while they locked the free wrist and fastened the chain to the bolted restraint ring. The provincial command was cut; no oath or cultivation trick held him there. The restraint was physical, and the two guards stayed close.
